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For some college graduates, nannying is not such a bad deal

By Samantha MelamedPhiladelphia Inquirer

Posted:
05/03/2014 01:27:33 PM CDT

Updated:
05/03/2014 01:27:35 PM CDT

Jeff Cawthorn, left, watches as Alexis Huesgen, a student at Thomas Jefferson University and babysitter for his two sons, plays with his 22-month-old Isaac Kerner, at the family home in Melrose Park, Pa., March 31, 2014. (Ron Tarver/Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT)

Philadelphia resident Ashley Newhall, 28, has a law degree and a master's in agricultural law, and she passed the bar in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. These days, she's working with some extremely demanding clients.

Most of them are less than 3 years old. Newhall's primary income source for the past few years has been babysitting.

Parents, said Newhall, are "blown away. They're like, 'Oh my gosh! You're the most overeducated nanny I've ever had.' " But jobs are scarce, and all that education came with six-figure debt. Along with two other jobs, she said, "the nannying is keeping me afloat."

Newhall may consider her stint in the nursery a detour. But for busy parents, it's a boon -- and an unexpected flip-side to a rough job market that has been especially cruel to young workers.

Parents are enjoying a pool of highly qualified and educated 20-something sitters -- some with safety certifications and degrees in early-childhood education -- often at the same price as the high-schooler down the street.

"You'd think, if they have more education, they'll bring more to the table -- and honestly they do," said Rachel Kerner, a physician and mother of two toddlers who lives in Melrose Park, Pa.

"We have a person who finished her degree in education, so she's able to do projects with the kids. We have an occupational-therapy student and a social worker -- and they're all bringing added benefits, so it's not just a teenager sitting there waiting for her boyfriend to come over with the pizza."

According a recent report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, underemployment among college graduates has risen significantly since 2001. Last year, 18.3 percent of young college grads were underemployed.

"The labor market's growing very slowly, and there's been a number of graduating classes since the recession began, so the competition is pretty fierce," said Mark Price, labor economist at the Keystone Research Center.

And as of 2012, 52 percent of college grads younger than 25 who were employed held jobs that didn't require four-year degrees, according to an analysis by a Northeastern University economist.

College graduates still fare far better than those with less education, Price said, "but their circumstances as a group are worse today than where their counterparts were a decade ago."

It comes, though, at a convenient moment for parents like Kerner and her husband, Jeff Cawthorne. That's because the babysitters they might depend on otherwise are often overscheduled and inaccessible.

"The one kid who lives down the street, he's in a play, he's got karate. He doesn't have a lot of free time. But the people who are underemployed and living with their parents, they're readily available," Cawthorne said.

A number of those reluctant nannies are aspiring or laid-off teachers. In Pennsylvania, for example, steep education-budget cuts and layoffs beginning in 2011 "made for a very bleak labor market for instructors," Price said.

Asia IrgangLaden, 24, of Elkins Park, Pa., can attest to that. "From what I've seen, it takes everybody about a year to get a full-time teaching job," she said.

She got her degree in special and elementary education from Temple University in 2012 and last fall landed a job as a support teacher. She hopes that will lead to her own classroom.

In the intervening time, she fell back on the job she'd first held at age 14.

"A lot of my friends are babysitting," she said. "It feels like a natural thing to do if you're going into a teaching position."

And if getting a trained, certified early-childhood educator for the price of a babysitter sounds like a good deal to you, you're not the only one.

"Late 2009 to 2010, I started getting overly qualified young women applying for the job -- and I was thrown for a loop," said Suzette Trimmer, who's run a Philadelphia nanny agency called Your Other Hands for 18 years.

Wendy Sachs, who runs the Philadelphia Nanny Network, said she's seen a similar surge of college graduates. Some nanny while seeking other jobs; others are in the process of applying to graduate schools (either to burnish their credentials, or to defer student loans).

The supply is even fueling a demand for more educated nannies; to a degree, she said, nannying is becoming professionalized.

And, in the era of boomerang kids, college grads' parents are far less likely to complain.

"Being a nanny has gained a tremendous amount in terms of professional prestige and respect," Sachs said. "The compensation packages reflect that ... with paid holidays, paid sick (leave), and personal time and health care."

Miles Butler, 23, a friend from IrgangLaden's Elkins Park neighborhood, said he was drawn to the flexibility babysitting offers. He's considering a full-time nannying job.

"Financially, it makes sense, and (I love) reconnecting with what it's like to be a kid," he said. With first aid and CPR certifications, he makes double the minimum wage.

Still, Shigeru Fujita, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, isn't so sanguine. The problem: Babysitting jobs, especially part-time ones, tend to be unstable. That increases the risk of unemployment, which over time can mean significant wage loss.

Economists view a person's earning ability like an escalator, rising over time. A spell of unemployment, or a detour from a chosen career, delays getting on the escalator. "Their lifetime income is going to be lower because of the difficulties in finding a job," he said.

Trimmer is sensitive to that, and tries to place young graduates with parents who work in their chosen field, in the hopes of making connections.

Newhall, who works for the Philadelphia Nanny Network, said she often finds herself nannying for lawyers' kids. A few parents have asked for her resume -- though no legal job has so far come of it.

For others, though, nannying may open a new career path.

Jordana Hakim, 25, who babysits with Your Other Hands, took the gig after she couldn't find work in business administration, her major at Community College of Philadelphia. It's inspired her to consider teaching.

But for that, she'll likely need more education.

Alexis Huesgen, a student at Thomas Jefferson University and babysitter, tries to get 22-month-old Isaac Kerner to settle down for a nap at the family home in Melrose Park, Pa., March 31, 2014. (Ron Tarver/Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT)